Summary
A simple, reliable and sensitive assay for alpha-amylase activity is reported, together with its theoretical derivation, that overcomes many of the problems encountered with other assays, especially when attempting to assay alpha-amylase activity in crude cell extracts or culture supernatants. The method relies on the reduction in turbidity that occurs upon digestion of a starch suspension with alpha-amylase. The initial rate of decrease in turbidity is shown to be proportional to a wide range of enzyme concentrations, permitting a rapid spectrophotometric and kinetic determination of alpha-amylase activity.
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Virolle, MJ., Morris, V.J. & Bibb, M.J. A simple and reliable turbidimetric and kinetic assay for alpha-amylase that is readily applied to culture supernatants and cell extracts. Journal of Industrial Microbiology 5, 295–301 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01578204
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01578204